Discussions about the fashion industry thread

[smittycl]

Looks like RL is doing okay at the moment. Story behind a paywall, though.

Ralph Lauren and Brunello Cucinelli Are Up, Tod's and Richemont Disappoint

The luxury sector fared well this month, with hopes of a trade deal between China and the USA as well as increased M&A chatter adding to a predominantly positive results season.

www.businessoffashion.com

 

[bamgrinus]

No idea apart from the general sense that the middle is hollowing-out. I think @dieworkwear has mentioned this before. Stores seem to be going Zara/H&M or seriously upscale. I always thought Polo and RRL were designed for mass appeal? Hard to imagine with those prices.

Of course, RLPL isn't really very affordable at retail either. That stuff has gone through the roof. Extreme examples, but still:

View attachment 1293937

Given the number of people attending black tie or white tie events these days, I'm not surprised that stuff is going to "only for the super-rich" prices. Still pretty ridiculous.

 

[dieworkwear]

Don't remember Polo or RRL ever to be affordable or mass appeal. I've always known it to be expensive and aspirational, even in the 90s. Friends of mine stole the stuff because they couldn't afford it.

 

[LA Guy]

Don't remember Polo or RRL ever to be affordable or mass appeal. I've always known it to be expensive and aspirational, even in the 90s. Friends of mine stole the stuff because they couldn't afford it.

For me, that was the late 80s. Polo was the drug of choice. I would go into boutiques with Polo, and look at the prices, and they seemed super high at the time. I mean, I was in elementary school, so a lot of things seem expensive when you have no income, period. I had no idea about RRL. Then the early 90s came around, and the Polo symbol became, for my friends and I, at least, a symbol of WASPy lameness - basically basic ***** wear.

RRL was what drew me back to Ralph Lauren stuff. But to this day, I can't wear a Polo polo, and those pastel colors still give me a rash.

 

[dieworkwear]

Then the early 90s came around, and the Polo symbol became, for my friends and I, at least, a symbol of WASPy lameness - basically basic ***** wear.

that's cause you grew up in the least diverse town in north america and went to the kind of high school where the graduating class had like 13 people

 

[clee1982]

I'm having some trouble with Polo. Too garish for me. Purple Label remains very appealing. I'm more of a CM-guy so no surprises there.

really, there are still some decent Polo stuff I would buy.

 

[LA Guy]

that's cause you grew up in the least diverse town in north america and went to the kind of high school where the graduating class had like 13 people

The graduating class was pretty big. The high school had something like 1250 people. It was also, at the time, a very good high school, with the majority of students moving into colleges, many of them elite, and we even couunted among our alumni a rather dubious distinction at the time. The engineer of the big ass cannon that Saddam Hussein alleged planned to use on Israel one of our graduates. He was alleged killed on his yacht by the Mossad.

It was not very diverse though, unless you count Italians and Portugese as POC, in which case, we were very diverse. There was literally one hispanic girl in our class. There were two, but one, who I hung out with in freshman and sophomore year, died in a car crash the year after. Still think of her sometime. The other, who was a bit of a class clown, had the last name "Gonzalez", and since we had essentially zero exposure to Hispanic people, her nickname was "Speedy".

 

[clee1982]

Don't remember Polo or RRL ever to be affordable or mass appeal. I've always known it to be expensive and aspirational, even in the 90s. Friends of mine stole the stuff because they couldn't afford it.

Actually some of the tailoring stuff for RL came down in price though

 

[dieworkwear]

Also love this Polo look in the new Jamie Ferguson book This Guy. All these years later, this kind of look still rocks. Even the Polo Sport cap is so good

 

[Mariokartfever]

High school is all about fashionable conformity. I feel like you could call out a clothing staple from your HS days and people could guess when you graduated plus or minus two years.

I'll go first: Black north face fleece.

 

[LA Guy]

High school is all about fashionable conformity. I feel like you could call out a clothing staple from your HS days and people could guess when you graduated plus or minus two years.

I'll go first: Black north face fleece.

Army surplus cargos.

 

[bry2000]

Loro Piana Icer

 

[smittycl]

Maybe Polo was always pricey? I got Polo as gifts over the years but never really bought any myself until the 2000's. I also have trouble trying not to associate Polo with their made-for-outlet stuff.

<shrug>

 

[smittycl]

High School was jeans, flannel shirts, and concert jerseys mostly. I seem to remember lots of AC/DC and Def Leppard. Cool kids wore designer jeans or dressed straight out of the Preppy Handbook. I don't think anyone knew it was written ironically.

 

[sushijerk]

Some polo was pricey for sure but remember PRL had their own sections in tons of suburban Macy's and that stuff on sale was definitely for the mainstream consumer.

Cool kid staple for us in high school was definitely the super colorful reversible nautica jackets.